Flag Burning: How do you feel about it?

[elperromagico]

[xultar]

1. Don't care. That's how I feel about it. n/t

[walldude]

41. I'm with you

I stopped pledging my allegiance to a piece of cloth a long time ago..

[Melynn]

45. Who cares

It's just a piece of cloth. I can't see what the big deal is about.

[FreedomAngel82]

2. To me

flag burning is a right in this country. It's a sign of protest and disagreement with what's going on in your country and a way to be vocal far off from the official people who can make a change.

[Maru Kitteh]

3. I oppose it but I will fight for anyones right to do it

that whole free speech thingy is pretty damn important.

[Hobarticus]

7. Pieces of fabric made in China are easily replacable...

Liberty isn't.

Damn straight!

[Paul Dlugokencky]

9. Right!

Perfectly put!



http://www.cafepress.com/kickindemocrats

[Piperay]

50. I agree

my feelings EXACTLY! :thumbsup:

[DrDebug]

4. Is #2 a trick option?

Anyone voting for #2 please elaborate the idea behind it...

[elperromagico]

8. I included it simply for the sake of completeness.

I doubt it will receive any votes, though DU rarely fails to surprise me.

[mike_c]

5. destroying symbols is a powerful and important emotional release...

...and no cow is too sacred, IMO.

[Solly Mack]

6. I prefer the real thing to symbols

way too many americans are wrapped up in symbols and as long as they can touch the symbol they don't seem to care that what the symbol represents is being stripped from them...

[sweetheart]

10. There is a famous zen story

about a monk who was cold, so he chopped up the buddha statue to make
a fire and warm the temple. Traditionalists said it was sacriliedge
but he said he was cold.

Burning a symbol in the present, where all symbols are eternally
burned and re-born in the minds of humankind could hardly be a sin.

[htuttle]

11. I prefer to wash mine, to try to get the blood out of it

Unfortunately, it seems to be an impossible task.

[candy]

16. It's sad that you only see bad in the flag,and no good. Why?

[htuttle]

18. If I only saw the bad in the flag I'd burn it, not wash it, wouldn't I?

[ComerPerro]

22. Maybe he meant literal blood.

Maybe the poster killed someone and some of the blood got on his flag


:evilgrin:

[Jamastiene]

12. I support someone's right to do it, but

personally, I don't think it's right for me. I live with a veteran who is a democrat who hates Bush, but still says it's a slap in the face of people who fought and died for the country and what the country is supposed to stand for, so I wouldn't do it. I look at it like it represents what America really wants to be (free, with rights for all), not what it really is until we get there. Now, a Confederate flag had better not let itself get anywhere near my lighter. If it does, it's gone. Poof...

[Sandpiper]

13. I don't care

I don't place much value in symbols.

[cruadin]

14. I would not burn an American flag, but the act of doing so...

is, above all else, a political statement. As such, it should be protected as an exercise of free speech under the 1st Amendment. Any attempt to legislate that specific act out of existence is an affront to political liberty. The idea of crafting an amendment to the Constitution to stop it is an absurdity.

[Toots]

15. Are you talking about the Confederate Flag...Burn it...

:shrug:

[rndmprsn]

17. i oppose it personally, but would NEVER take away someone's...

right to do so...EOM

[Rabrrrrrr]

19. I support it, and I oppose any attempt to make it illegal

it is one of the most important and glorious political statements that can be made, and as such the right to burn the flag is an essential right if we are to remain a free country.

[ComerPerro]

20. I think it is disrespectful, but so is flying the flag

because it is popular, and then letting it deteriorate in the rain, mud, and wind. I've seen it done so many times that it just makes me sick.



Now, about my statement calling flagburning "disrespectful".

To anyone who is about to flame me, please read this first:

Isn't it supposed to be? Is that not the point?

I am not saying it should be illegal (it certainly shouldn't be), I am not saying its wrong. I am not saying it shouldn't be done. Just that it is disrespectful.

[Warpy]

21. How many flags get burned on US soil???

Even witless, angry young men know it's a really stupid tactic, guaranteed to make the maximum number of enemies for whatever cause they've taken up at the moment.

Given that most US flags are incinerated overseas or as the legal and respectful way of disposing of damaged flags in the US, I'd prefer to keep stupid, restrictive laws off the books, thanks.

[ComerPerro]

26. What? You didn't go to the weekly "Tuesday Flag Burning"

yesterday?

Check the website, there should be one in your area!

It's a great time!

:sarcasm:

[RC]

23. It depends on who is wrapped in it.

[blondeatlast]

24. Other. I find it personally offensive, but oppose any attempt to ban it. n

[noamnety]

25. I am pro-choice

I neither support nor oppose it any more than I would support or oppose you slicing an apple before you eat it. It's not my business to decide what you do.

I oppose banning it.

I didn't vote because I didn't find an option that matched that exactly.

[catzies]

27. I prefer someone who burns the flag & wraps themself in the Constitution

over someone who burns the Constitution & wraps themself in the flag.

[Just Me]

28. It's an icon of certain principles that are supposed to be shared.

Equality and justice for all.

When those principles are being violated by those in government,...burning that icon is merely an expression of the violation of such principles.

I'm an iconoclast. Symbols/icons are wonderful if they represent what we are or what we aim for. Otherwise, they are merely meaningless symbols/icons which are usually utilized to manipulate others.

[Beaverhausen]

29. 45 million americans don't have health insurance

who gives a fuck about burning a flag?

:eyes:

[Snotcicles]

31. What is this a plant? n/t

[elperromagico]

37. It's foolhardy to assume that every DU thread addresses a matter

of earthshaking importance.

Wouldn't you agree?

[Guaranteed]

51. Oh, but the thread does.

It's about the right, not the action.

[Aristus]

30. I would NEVER burn the flag, but we have to keep it legal. It's

just a fucking FLAG, for the love of God. If anyone bellows at me: "I fought for that flag!", I'll tell them, I fought for the right to burn it or not, and all of the other freedoms we supposedly cherish in this country.

Now, if it is banned, I'm getting a flag, a match and some lighter fluid. Civil disobedience and all that.................

[Bake]

32. I wouldn't burn it at this point

But, as has been pointed out repeatedly (so I'll jump in too), it is a powerful political statement.

Having said that, I can't say that I will NEVER do it. The day may come when I feel completely compelled and justified in lighting one up.

Bake

[pinto]

33. I guess I'd have to say that Constitutionally, it's protected free speech.

[paineinthearse]

34. Burning is the way to retire old flags prescribed by federal law

What's the issue?

[LiberallyInclined]

35. i think it's silly to hold so much reverence for a piece of cloth.

so i really couldn't care one way or the other- but it definitely should NOT be illegal to burn it just because it's a flag.

[bleedingheart]

36. Isn't burning the flag the only acceptable way to dispose of them?

Call me crazy, but I recall my dad (a vet) burning old flags in the back yard when they were tattered. Granted he wasn't making a spectacle of it or making a political statement.

[seito]

42. Yes

I believe the custom is to separate the stars from the stripes and then burn it.

[seg4527]

38. burn em all!

semi-sarcasticf.

[elperromagico]

39. Would you settle for burning half of them and lightly toasting the rest?

semi-humorous

[jpgray]

40. The flag isn't important. What it represents is

I'm surprised we're so sanguine about destroying what it stands for in order to outlaw destroying the superficial piece of fabric. Shows how topsy turvy the country is right now. Like how supporting the troops means keeping them in a place where they die to no perceivable purpose.

[moddemny]

43. Whether is it a protected right or not.........

Burning the American Flag is wrong.............

People who do it are morons and America has still not descended to a point where the flag deserves to be desecrated (that would still take many decades even at the current rate with Bush as president).

The American flag is a symbol that has deeper meaning that goes way beyond the actions of any one particular administration. It represents an ideal even if it's ideal that has not been fully realized.

[yorgatron]

44. the PROPER way to deal with a torn or dirty flag is burning it.

ask the guys down at your local VFW or American Legion Hall.
do you need to know what flying it upside-down means?
i would gladly pledge allegiance to the constitution,bill of rights,or the declaration of independance.
and no,i would never kill a bald eagle.

[moddemny]

47. Most people in this thread were discussing

..........within the context of protest.

You go down to the local VFW or American Legion Hall and ask them how they feel about protesters burning the flag.


As far as flying it upside down, I have found several interpretations of what that means, some consider it a sign of distress (the country in some form of crisis) some consider it a form of protest. I personally would not hang it upside down because it is subject to misinterpretation.

[fujiyama]

46. I am ambivalent

but oppose the banning of burning it.

I don't view it as the most effective form of protest (atleast in so far as to change minds), but I see why someone might out of rage and anger.

[yorgatron]

48. what if you tattooed a flag on yourself?

when you die you desecrate the flag.
it's just CLOTH and DYE people.
dubya thinks it's OK to autograph them with a sharpie marker,why can't i burn one?
i think i'll do that.
i'll put an american flag in a box,with an incendiary device.which may or may not go off when the lid is removed.
it'll be like schroedinger's cat.

[true_notes]

49. My Stance is

The forefathers worked hard and tedious for something called the First Amendment. I wish popele would quit ruining their work and sacrifice.

[Guaranteed]

52. I've said it before. The day flag burning is illegal is the day

I renounce my citizenship.